1. Field of Invention
This invention relates to a new, improved rock screed bucket for use in separating and grading particularized material such as sand, gravel and rock and for connection to conventional arm structure and conventional hydraulic system of a mobile machine such as a tractor or front end loader.
2. Description of Prior Art
The prior art discloses the use of screens in combination with earth moving buckets and the use of screens to separate different substances.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,160,034 to Potter teaches a vibrating bucket screen attachment for cleaning beaches mounted on a mobile machine. Potter includes an outer excavating bucket with a sand scooping blade and runners on the outer bucket for supporting the outer bucket relative to the beach and an inner vibrating screen bucket which is resiliently mounted in the excavating bucket and includes a hydraulically operated vibrator. Potter teaches a floor screen portion of the inner bucket being mounted above the bottom sand-engaging portions of the outer bucket. Potter teaches an inner vibrating screen bucket set within a primary bucket by means of brackets and compression springs. The inner vibrating screen bucket further includes a vibrator mounted thereon. In operation, the vibrator vibrates only the inner vibrating screen bucket mounted within the primary bucket. In contrast to Potter, the applicant's invention herein provides for a less complex improved rock screed bucket.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,698,150 to Wigoda teaches a beach trash remover including a motorized vehicle having a conventional construction type shovel. Wigoda includes an opening covered by a screen in the center of the shovel, which screen is held on a frame which is coupled to the shovel through shock absorbers. Wigoda provides means for vibrating motion to the screened frame. Wigoda teaches the vibrating mechanism moving the screen frame within the shovel, dissimilar to the applicant's invention herein wherein the vibrator moves the improved rock screed bucket relative to the tractor or carrying vehicle.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,157,956 to Robinson teaches a screening bucket having a rear portion and a front portion supported for pivotal displacement toward and away from the rear portion. Robinson includes a pair of hydraulic slave cylinders connected to the front portion for establishing a closeable discharge opening and a deployable flexible screen for forming a perforated occlusion for the discharge opening comprising a web formed of a plurality of links defining a myriad of discharge openings through which contents of less than selected screen size is discharged from the bucket, and a power driven reel for alternately taking-up and paying-out the web as the front portion of the bucket is displaced relative to the rear portion thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,072,257 to Hockenberry teaches a mechanism for digging, screening, washing, and loading gravel and the like for use with a bulldozer or the like. Hockenberry includes a material gathering member which is used as a jaw to close with the bulldozer blade in bucket manner to envelop the material to be screened. Hockenberry includes rotating the blade forward to position the material on the screen and then rocking the bucket on pivots to accomplish the screening.
It is therefore, the general purpose of the instant invention to provide an new, improved rock screed bucket which is simple, practical, and economic to manufacture, employ and maintain.
The new, improved rock screed bucket according to the present invention substantially departs from the conventional concepts, designs and complications of the prior art, and in doing so, provides an apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing an new, improved rock screed bucket which is simple, practical, and economic to manufacture, employ and maintain.
Therefore, it can be appreciated that there exists a continuing need for a new apparatus primarily developed for the purpose of providing an new, improved rock screed bucket which is simple, practical, and economic to manufacture, employ and maintain. In this regard, the present invention substantially fulfills this need.
As illustrated by the background art, efforts are continuously being made in an attempt to develop devices for separating and grading particularized material such as sand, gravel and rock. No prior effort, however, provides the benefits attendant with the present invention. Additionally, the prior patents and commercial techniques do not suggest the present simple inventive combination of component elements arranged and configured as disclosed and claimed herein.
The present invention achieves its intended purposes, objects, and advantages through a simple, new, useful and unobvious combination of component elements, with the use of a minimum number of functioning parts, at a reasonable cost to manufacture, maintain and replace, and by employing only readily available materials.